R. T. Busse

School Psychologists as Instructional Consultants in a Response-to-Intervention Model.

The 2004 authorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act affords an opportunity to shift the classification of Learning Disabilities (LD) from a “refer-test-place” to a Response-to-Intervention (RtI) service delivery model. As a result, there are implications for the professional activities of school psychologists. School psychologists, who historically devoted much of their time to testing struggling learners for learning disabilities, will need to engage in a different type of practice, specifically providing instructional consultation in a tiered assessment and intervention model. This article describes instructional consultation skills and knowledge school psychologists must possess to promote the learning outcomes of students with achievement deficits, including students with disabilities. Survey data collected from 249 California school psychologist practitioners highlight the need to modify school psychology pre-service training and on-going professional development to enable school psychologists to become effective instructional consultants.

Incremental Validity of the WJ III COG: Limited Predictive Effects Beyond the GIA-E

This study is an examination of the incremental validity of Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) broad clusters from the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ III COG) for predicting scores on the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH). The participants were children and adolescents, ages 6-18 (n = 4,722), drawn from the WJ III standardization sample. The sample was nationally stratified and proportional to U.S. census estimates for race/ethnicity, parent education level, and geographic region. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to assess for cluster-level effects after controlling for the variance accounted for by the General Intellectual Ability-Extended (GIA-E) composite score. The results were interpreted using the R²/ΔR² statistic as the effect size indicator. Consistent with previous studies, the GIA-E accounted for statistically and clinically significant portions of WJ III ACH cluster score variance, with R2 values ranging from .29 to .56. WJ III COG CHC cluster scores collectively provided statistically significant incremental variance beyond the GIA-E in all of the regression models, although the effect sizes were consistently negligible to small (Average ΔR2(CHC) = .06), with significant effects observed only in the Oral Expression model (ΔR²(CHC) = .23). Individually, the WJ III COG cluster scores accounted for mostly small portions of achievement variance across the prediction models, with a large effect found for the Comprehension-Knowledge cluster in the Oral Expression model (ΔR²(Gc) = .23). The potential clinical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.

Selective Mutism: A Three-Tiered Approach to Prevention and Intervention.

Selective mutism is a rare anxiety disorder that prevents a child from speaking at school or other community settings, and can be detrimental to a child’s social development. School psychologists can play an important role in the prevention and treatment of selective mutism. As an advocate for students, school psychologists can work with teachers, parent caregivers, speech pathologists, and other support staff toward helping children who may develop or have selective mutism. The purpose of this article is to present school-based prevention and intervention approaches within a three-tiered approach that may reduce the incidence and severity of selective mutism. We present theories and research on the etiology and prevalence of the disorder, followed by a review of intervention methods and research at each tier. Based on the theoretical and research literature base, we conclude that early intervention may result in the prevention and amelioration of many occurrences of selective mutism.

Convergent Evidence Scaling for Multiple Assessment Indicators: Conceptual Issues, Applications, and Technical Challenges.

The purpose of this article is to present Convergent Evidence Scaling (CES) as an emergent method for combining data from multiple assessment indicators. The CES method combines single-case assessment data by converging data gathered across multiple persons, settings, or measures, thereby providing an overall criterion-referenced outcome on which to base decisions. Examples are described using CES for monitoring treatment integrity and for treatment evaluation to demonstrate the use of the method within consultation problem-solving and response-to-intervention models. The article concludes with a discussion of the strengths and limitations of the CES method.

Social Story™ interventions for decreasing challenging behaviours: a single-case meta-analysis 1995–2012

A meta-analysis of the single-case research examining the efficacy of Social Story™ interventions for decreasing problem behaviours of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder was conducted by examining 27 outcome studies (n = 77) between 1995 and 2012 that yielded 64 intervention effects across three single-case outcome indicators. The overall mean visual analysis ratings and percentage of non-overlapping data scores indicated that the use of Social Story™ interventions resulted in small to negligible effects whereas the weighted effect size estimator ( = 0.79) indicated moderate to large treatment effects. Moderator analysis indicated that intervention setting, intervention agent, length of treatment, and publication status were all associated with positive effects for behavioural outcomes, although the significance of these outcomes were not consistent across indicators. Implications for practitioners and clinicians, suggestions for future research, and limitations are discussed.

Monitoring School Consultation Intervention Outcomes for Data-Based Decision Making An Application of the Goal Attainment Scaling Method

School counselors increasingly are being asked to develop and implement data-based interventions for academic and social/emotional problems. The purpose of this article is to provide a demonstration of goal attainment scaling (GAS) as an intervention outcome assessment tool for school counselor’s work with students. The strengths and limitations of the GAS method are described and an application is provided on the use of the method with school counseling consultation cases. We conclude that GAS is a useful tool for school counselors to evaluate individual or group intervention outcomes.